Crossed Paths
by Rinsaku Hiroshi
Summary: Cross-over between Star Trek:TOS and the KotOR Knights of the Old Republic video game. Characters are from both, and also includes a few of my own.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: And so it begins. This is a cross-over story between KotOR (Knights of the Old Republic) and Star Trek:TOS (The Original Series). Mixed in with the other characters I have a few of my own. My characters, Rin and her sister Callista, are basically gryphons of a sort. I'm basing them off of a gryphon-like race in the animated Star Trek series that are known as the Aurelians. They are a bit different, of course. They are not all golden in color with blue eyes, and they have other differences. (Search 'Aurelian' with 'Memory-Alpha' on Google, and the first site that comes up will tell you everything about these creatures.) The others are characters from either KotOR or Star Trek:TOS. If pieces don't make sense (I'm sure I've fixed all of them) this was only something to prevent me from going mad from boredom. (Read my Bio) I'm still uncertain if I am going to finish it, but if I do, it's going to eventually turn into something of an episode of Star Trek: TOS. There is still much more for me to type, so expect constant chapters for this story. Enjoy!

"I'm going by myself?" she asked in surprise as she stared out at an image of the surface of the planet.

"Yes," Kirk answered plainly but firmly. "You're the only one that could survive the vapors out there. The rest of us would succumb to them and… needless to say, McCoy would not be in the best of moods."

"Of course," she responded with a false smile and they handed her a com-link as she stepped onto the transporter pad. The room disappeared and she stared around at the barren wasteland she was now standing in.

Fortunately she managed to find the entrance into a small underground station and stumbled into the cantina there. She was careful to keep her head low to avoid any confrontations but the one she found wasn't as bad as she was expecting.

"Rinsaku, my old friend, some join me!" a rough alien voice said happily and she smiled when she realized who it was.

"Hanharr, my friend!" she greeted as she took a seat beside the Wookie and noted, "You're in good spirits this day."

"Indeed!" he laughed. "I brought in some fair bounties early this morning and pleased Jabba greatly. What brings you to my side of the galaxy, Rin?"

"I hear this is the place to get dilithium crystals?" She frowned at his expression,

"Yes, you can find them here," he hissed and he glanced over his shoulder, "but they will be hard for you to come by."

"How so?" Rin asked as she raised a furry eyebrow.

"You're not in Federation space anymore. The Klingons have a bounty on your head so big a fool could buy his own planet. You will need help getting to them. Drink?"

"I'd rather not." She laughed a little. "Buy their own planet? Surely, you must be exaggerating."

"I'm afraid not," he responded with a sigh as he inhaled his drink in one gulp. "I don't know what you and your sister did to vex them so, but whatever it was, you really must've hit a soft spot in that armor."

Rin nearly fell out of her chair. She wasn't laughing anymore. "My… sister?" she asked with a shaky voice. "But… Callista… I thought she was-"

"Oh no, no, she was not killed. When she was a youngling, the Klingons took her to Coroscant to hide her there. After having so much trouble with you, they assumed that Czerka would not be the only company to pay such a high price for a creature as rare as the both of you."

"But by my luck I was saved by a ship full of Vulcans," she recalled. "The Klingons were transporting me for another sales attempt, but they never had the chance."

"I am aware of this, and your sister was fortunate as well," Hanharr informed. "The Jedi Council sensed a… disturbance, I believe it was, and set out to investigate. They found her through the Force, and trained her to become a full-fledged Jedi. I haven't heard anything else, all but it's hard to kill Jedi."

Rin stared in disbelief. "If my bounty is so high," she asked in a suspecting tone, "why tell me this? Why do you not kill me yourself, and buy a planet?"

Hanharr smiled a dark toothy grin. "One, because you're my friend, and for another reason, you could easily strike me down before I could even think to act up on it."

"Then you are a wise Wookie, my friend," she acknowledged. "Now, about those crystals… how can I get my talons on a coupe of pairs? Without a doubt, I'm sure you have a solution, do you not?"

He was a bit quarrelsome at first, but after she had slipped a few drinks down his throat, it was not so difficult to coax it out of him. "It is possible, but only for those who share your… abilities." She raised an eyebrow as he continued. "You will need to be stealthy," he warned. "Many of your evil cousins roam these halls. Perhaps it would not be such a bad thing to make yourself appear as one of them?"

A light went off in Rin's head. "I see what you mean, Hanharr. I appreciate the warning."

She managed to leave the cantina without drawing much attention to herself and she stood in a vacant room as she thought. "Malvadioum was a cruel and scrawny breed but… eh, it's my duty."

After reaching within herself and pulling on her physical power, she managed to transform her outward appearance to match that of her race's hated branch. Her fur had darkened from a rich mahogany brown to an ugly dirt color, and she looked like she had just come out of a fight with a rancor. In places, she was missing fur and she had scars in a few spots. She practically had to transform everything about her before she left the room.

The corridors were nearly empty as she strode through them. She took on a more aggressive gait and held her head a bit higher.

"Ah! Kaalah-Nah!" a voice from behind her called. "What brings you here to our humble little outpost?"

Rin turned and took in the strange alien. She had seen him before on another planet, and he had called himself Visquis. "Ah, good day, Visquis," she greeted him, but not in too friendly a way. Her memories and upbringing on Vulcan came back to her, and she stowed away her emotions like she had been taught so many years before. Even though she frequently used her emotions, to the disproval of her Vulcan foster parents, on the brief occasions when she was required emotional silence, it was possible because of the… different, upbringing she had received. "I have come to obtain a few pairs of dilithium crystals to power my ship."

"_Your_ ship?" he asked curiously. "You mean to say that the Federation Cruiser orbiting just off-planet is yours?"

"Indeed." She could tell by his expression that he didn't believe her. "Let me prove it to you," she offered as she pulled out her communicator. As she opened it, she pressed a small button before speaking.

Kirk smirked when he saw an orange light blink at him on the arm of the Captain's chair. "I wonder what she's up to now," he muttered to himself before he opened the channel. "Kirk here," he answered the hail.

"Are you not," Kaalah-Nah began in a stronger voice, "Captain James T. Kirk of the Federation starship Enterprise, of which was recently taken by me not a month ago?"

His smirk grew into a smile as he realized what was going on and he put a tone of aggression into his voice as he growled, "I'm am… or _was_ the Captain of this ship, and I still demand-"

"Your demand for return of command is irrelevant to me!" she barked at him. "Recall this: you leave with '_your ship_', and your family's lives are mine."

"Don't you dare do anything to them!" Kirk shouted and she inwardly smiled. "If you do, I'll… I'll…"

"You'll what, human?" she asked threateningly. "Your race is a weak one, and shall always be crushed under the foot of the galaxies! Learn your place, and keep it!" She closed the channel and glanced up and Visquis. "Do you believe me now?"

"Of course, Kaalah-Nah," he responded with a smile. "Forgive me for being cautious, but as of late, we have had many coming here claiming to be people they are not, so I have come to see them myself."

"I appreciate your caution, Visquis. You have my thanks." She glanced over her shoulder and asked, "Where are the crystals?"

"This way," he said and he beckoned her to follow him. The door opened and she was overwhelmed by the amount of soldiers. The all turned their guns on her and she looked up at Visquis.

"What is this betrayal?"

He scoffed, "My betrayal? You amuse me, Hiroshi. I am not as foolish as I appear to be. I know Kaalah-Nah better than she knows herself. Obviously, you are not her." Visquis started laughing to himself and stated, "And now, I'm going to kill you and collect your high-priced bounty."

A few of the men behind him glanced at each other in an almost irritated way and one fired into the ceiling. "_You_ will take the bounty?"

Visquis stared silently for a moment and rephrased, "I will... assist you in collecting the bounty of course, Bendak."

"I think not, Visquis." He glanced at the group of humans and aliens behind him. "I think it would be unfair for you to take the pleasure of disposing of the creature. I recommend you step aside."

"Remember, my men are mixed with yours and are loyal to me." Any expression at all was gone from his face and Rin could tell he was nervous.

"Bounty hunters are ruthless and trained killers," he informed. "Do you truly think any of your men have the slightest chance of killing Bendak Starkiller with such makeshift blasters?"

Rin raised an eyebrow and glanced over her shoulder. Visquis appeared to be telepathically giving commands to his men and when one moved too quickly a gunfight began in the blink of an eye.

Taking advantage of the distraction, she slipped out the door and disappeared down the hallway. Rin opened one of the rooms she saw in the hallway and smiled when she found a console standing in the middle of the room. After closing the door and a couple of minutes at the console, she hacked into the station's mainframe. She was able to download the area schematics into her datapad and honed in on the room containing the dilithium crystals almost instantly. Just as she was about to log out, curiosity grabbed hold of her and she did a search on the bounties. She downloaded all the information she could find and then set off to find the room containing the crystals.


	2. Chapter 2

The corridor was a dead-end and she stopped. "Hm… a hidden door?" she whispered silently and she ran a talon down the wall. It was vibrating ever so slightly. She pondered it for a moment and turned when she heard a loud commotion a few rooms down. Curiously, she trotted over and stuck her head in the door. Rin's jaw fell to the floor.

Standing there in the middle of the room surrounded by soldiers and bounty hunters with a double-bladed lightsaber in hand stood an Aurelian. She was brown from head to tail, similar to Rin's color, but not exactly.

She glanced in one of the more concealed corners of the room and her eyes widened when she saw two of the soldiers setting up a portable torpedo launcher. Seconds before it was fired, Rin dashed in and pulled the Aurelian out before the room filled with smoke and debris.

She jumped back to her hind lets and pointed her saber at Rin's chest. She was still lying on the ground and examining a laser-shot in one of her legs. "Why," she asked quietly, "would any descendant of Malvadioum help one of Gryphex?"

Rin blinked a few times and responded, "They wouldn't." She backed up and rose on her hind legs as well. "Fortunately for you, I am of no such lineage."

She stared in confusion and demanded, "Then explain your physical attributes.

Rin stared in silence for a moment and then smiled. "And fortunately for me, I was the only one who took Vivek's ability to shape-shift." She changed back into her normal physical self and internally was laughing at her sister's expression. "Salutations, Callista. It's Rin."

Callista stared in stunned silence and her lightsaber retracted back into the hilt. "You're dead."

"I survived," she stated, "but I have to admit, I really didn't want to."

"But… the Klingons-"

"-Hate me?" She glanced over her shoulder when she heard commotion in the next hallway. "We'll need to speak later. Will you come with me?"

"I will indeed," Callista responded and suggested, "I recommend that you finish any business here quietly before we are overwhelmed by guards and bounty hunters."

"I agree," Rin responded and she walked back to the vibrating wall. "There is a hidden door here I need to get through. Do you suppose you could het it open?"

Callista put her talon on the wall and closed her eyes. Seconds later the wall gave way and they ran in the door.

Rin ran around in the room and opened all the crates she could find. In the last crate she found the dilithium crystals wrapped in a burlap sack and she put it on her back.

"Dilithium crystals?" she asked curiously and her sister nodded.

"We need them for the ship," she briefly explained. "I'll tell you more later. We have to get back."

At that moment, there was an explosion near the door and they were knocked off their feet. Callista fell unconscious. Rin picked her up into her arms and flew through the hallways packed with soldiers. She got nicked a few times as she made her way through the corridors but she was for the most part alright.

She stopped midflight and her heart dropped when she realized that the exit was sealed off tight. She whipped out her communicator and shouted into the device, "Scotty, beam us up N-OW!"

There was static. Rin was panicking more than she ever had before as the door that was separating them from the hallway took a blaster shot. She kept shouting to the shop for help and she was pushing all the buttons on the communicator until the door gave way. A bunch of people ran in through the door and help both of them at gunpoint.

A man covered in fiber armor stepped through the crowd and stopped in front of her. Rin glared at him and acknowledged, "Ah, if it isn't the best-known Mandalorian bounty hunter in the galaxy, Bendak Starkiller."

He was almost surprised by the respect she showed and he returned it. "And if it isn't two of the descendants of Gryphex, Rinsaku Hiroshi, the well-known third officer of the Federation Starship Enterprise commanded by Captain James Tiberius Kirk, and her sister, Callista Hiroshi, Jedi Knight of Coroscant."

She too in turn was surprised at him and rose to her feet. "Why the respect?" she asked curiously.

"You are a worthy adversary and are a warrior after what you have managed to survive," he answered honestly. "And why from you?"

"For the same reason." She glanced around the room. "We cannot stay here, and I cannot allow you the chance to kill me." Even through his helmet Rin could feel his frustration and added, "But, I will acknowledge the fact that I am cornered. When I have time and I am not crucial to our mission, I will return and give you a fair death match. Agreed, Starkiller?"

He gently laughed. "It is agreed, Hiroshi."

At that moment a hole was blasted in the ceiling of the room by the Enterprise and a second later Rin recognized the transporter room aboard the ship.

"What took you guys so long?" she demanded instantly as she dragged Callista off the transporter pad.

"We were having… difficulties," Kirk responded and he glanced down at Callista.

Before he could ask, Rin informed, "My younger sister," and he said nothing.

Minutes later they were all sitting in med-bay liking over Callista. Rin had taken the lightsaber for safe-keeping and had given Scotty the sack of dilithium crystals.

"You have a sister?" McCoy asked curiously and she nodded.

"She's about a year younger than I am," she notified. "Her name is Callista, and from what I hear, a Jedi."

Kirk raised an eyebrow. "Where's the lightsaber?"

"I… put it away," she answered honestly.

Kirk suddenly smiled. "Are you still going to attack my family?"

She laughed. "Oh, I'd better explain myself! I ran into the head of the bounty hunters and IU needed to persuade Visquis that thus ship was completely under my control. Thanks for sounding so convincing."

"Of course."

"More interesting news," Rin continued as she plugged her data pad into the computer, "I have a bounty on my head. She as well."

Kirk's expression was one of concern. "For what?"

"Merely for breathing," she supposed. "I escaped Klingons many years ago. I suppose the one who lost his eye to me cast it."

"So," McCoy began, "why have we only just now heard about this bounty of yours?"

"Because I'm protected in Federation space," she explained. "All Klingon-placed bounties are off in Federation space, but the second I leave it, someone can legally take my head. Understand?"

"How big is the prize?"

She smiled at him. "A fool could buy his own planet, or so I hear. I downloaded the information. You're both free to look at it if you wish, but try anything against she or I and…"

"We get it. We never would anyway," Kirk promised. "We need you more alive."

"Right." she mumbled and then continued, "Soon, I'm going to need to visit Starkiller again to participate in his promised death match."

McCoy raised an eyebrow, nearly surprised. "Death match?"

Rin nodded and sighed, "It was what he was known for." She explained. "In a death match, two contestants fight to the death. Simple as that, and Bendak Starkiller is a legend in the game. He is said to have killed hundreds of people, enough to the point that Czerka Corporation had the nerve to put a bounty on his head."

Kirk was surprised with the mass of information. "How do you know all this?" he asked.

Rin smiled and informed, "He's an old… acquaintance of mine."

Callista stirred and she awoke. She lifted her head and rolled onto her front. "Where am I?" she asked Rin as she glanced around and memorized the new faces in the room.

Kirk stepped forward and introduced himself. "I am Captain James T. Kirk of the Federation Starship Enterprise. Welcome aboard."

Callista looked him over and responded, "Greetings, Captain. I am Callista Hiroshi, descendant of the branch of Gryphex."

"A pleasure," he said with a smile.

"Likewise."

Spock entered the room and informed, "The dilithium crystals have been installed and are working perfectly."

"Excellent," Kirk stated and he left med-bay to check up on a few things.

Rin looked back at her sister and noticed she was staring at Spock with a plain expression. "Have I seen you before?" she asked curiously and he raised an eyebrow.

"This," Rin introduced, "is Captain Kirk's First Officer Spock. He's the son of Sarek. That's probably why he looks s familiar."

She moved her head in silent greeting. He returned it and Rin spotted their medical-brain over in the corner. "And Callista, this is Doctor Leonard McCoy." He turned around at hearing his name and smiled. Rin continued, "He's been with us for as long as I can remember."

"I've heard of you before, Doctor," Callista recalled. "I hear you are an excellent medical officer aboard your vessel. You have quite a reputation."

McCoy looked like he was about to laugh at the compliment but Spock interrupted and stated flatly, "May I remind you that Doctor McCoy is merely a country doctor, not a miracle worker."

Callista and Rin smirked at the comment and McCoy had a look of death on his face. "Be that as it may," Rin accepted but in a careful tone, "he's still an excellent physician in my opinion."

"Thank you, Rin," McCoy muttered hotly and in a tense tone as he went back to what he was doing.

"Are they always like this?" Callista questioned in a whispered but amused voice, and Rin nodded.

"Always."

Kirk's voice sounded over the intercom calling Rin and Spock to the Bridge. Callista slid off the bed and asked, "Cam I come with you?"

"Certainly," Rin agreed. "I'm sure you've never been aboard a Federation Space Cruiser before. Come on."


	3. Chapter 3

"We're what

"We're _what_?" Rin asked again with a tone of slight alarm.

"We're being held in place by an unknown force," Spock repeated and Callista smiled.

"Force," she whispered, obviously amused.

"Yes," he Vulcan agreed. "A force."

"No," she corrected. "_The_ Force."

"Captain," Uhura calmly spoke before Spock could question Callista, "we're being hailed."

"On screen."

A human woman with long brown hair was peering down at the Bridge. Her face was cold and stern and her voice was the same. "Forgive me fro halting your ship in such a manner, but I believe you have on of my companions on board my ship."

Kirk glanced back at Rin as Callista pushed her way to the front. "Revan, Revan," she laughed, "I'm fine! They saved me, actually."

Revan's look softened a tad and she smiled as well. "I've always got to keep taps on you, with the bounty and all." She cast a wary eye over all the faces on the Bridge.

"Now wait a second there, my friend," Callista began, "these are no bounty hunters. Otherwise, I don't think she'd be here."

Revan had missed Rin's face before and she stared in half surprise. "Forgive me for doubting you, Captain," she apologized. "But after recent events, it has become extremely difficult to trust anyone. With as high priced as our bounties have become, one must always be on edge."

"Our?" Rin asked with a raised eyebrow.

Revan shrugged with a wide smile and explained, "It's impossible to go from Lord of the Sith to Jedi Master without someone getting mad."

"You're traveling with an ex- Sith Lord?" Rin asked Callista in surprise and she nodded.

"Revan saved my life once," Callista explained. "When I heard she was on the run for her life, I thought I owed her my help. So, until these bounties are gone, we're manning the Ebon Hawk with a few of her other friends."

"Davik's flagship?" Rin asked in awe. "But… I thought the ship was destroyed when the Sith demolished Taris."

"We nearly were. We flew out just as the city came crashing down." Callista had a sort of spaced look on her face as she said it. "But I'll tell you about it later."

Suddenly Scotty shouted from his position on the Bridge," Cap'n! A Bird of Prey just de-cloaked and is charging weapons!"

"Shields!" Kirk shouted but not fast enough. A torpedo smashed into the hull of the ship, ruining the engines powering the shields.

Revan was screaming commands to those aboard the Ebon Hawk, doing whatever possible to rescue the Federation Cruiser. Callista let out a roar when her ship was struck.

"Arm torpedoes…" Kirk ordered, and a moment later he shouted, "Fire!"

At the same time, Revan was manning the turbolasers to the best of her ability, hoping against fate that the shields would hold out.

The Enterprise took another severe hit and the Captain was nearly thrown across the Bridge. "Cap'n! She's been hit hard," Scotty informed. "We've been reduced to impulse power."

"Shields have priority! Get them back online!"

"Working, Cap'n."

"Captain!" Sulu called from his post. "The Ebon Hawk has just taken fire to her hull. She's spinning out of control!"

"Revan!" Callista was calling into her communicator. "Revan, what's going on over there?" There was static. "Revan!"

The static decreased a bit and a voice came over the frequency. "We've been hit…" the voice said. "…trying… restore… life support…" There was silence for a brief moment, and then, "…everything is… offline… no response… hyperdrive is useless…"

A Klingon face appeared onscreen. "If you wish to live," it began, "hand over the Aurelians and the human female known as Revan."

Rin and Callista were hiding behind the Captain's chair when the face appeared. Rin transformed into human form and rose. From previous experiences, she had taught herself to act and took advantage of it now. She made herself look to be very nervous; she was shaking all over. "B-But…" she stuttered, "they are in med-bay recovering. "Please let us treat them!" She looked to be on the verge of tears now.

The Klingon was silent for a moment and shouted something to one of his crewmembers in his native tongue. He turned back to the screen and threatened, "I warn you Captain, if you attempt anything, you will be annihilated." The channel closed without another word and Rin changed back to her normal self.

"Captain, the Klingon told his men to prepare for boarding the Enterprise," she translated. "They will be materializing in the Transporter Room momentarily."

"Security," Kirk said into the intercom in his armchair, "send a dispatch of men to the Transporter Room. We are expecting… unwanted company."

"Not to sound burdensome, but do you suppose you could beam me over to my ship?" Callista asked Kirk once he had ended communication.

"I believe that could be arranged," he responded and he turned back to his chair once more.

"Captain, we are holding the Klingons prisoner in the Transporter Room."

"Thank you, Ensign. Place them under heavy surveillance in the brig until further notice. Kirk out."

Rin placed a talon on the shoulder of her sister and whispered, "Don't worry. I'm sure everything will be fine." Callista said nothing in response. "Come on. I'll come with you, and beam us aboard your ship."

She nodded and followed her off the Bridge. Before beaming over, they were each handed a life-support-belt and a few extras to help those aboard the small ship.

--

The Ebon Hawk was in ruins. All power seemed to be out all over the ship. Callista ran all over finding her fellow crewmembers and equipping them with the belts. Injuries were remarkably minimal: there were cuts and bruises all over and one of the older men was unconscious, they were pretty much all right. Fortunately they had arrived just before there was a strain for oxygen, but the ship was in poor shape. It could be repaired eventually, but for now it would be impossible to fly it.

"Callista, are they alright?" Rin asked in a concerned tone as she saw the shaken appearance of the men and women on board.

"I believe they will be once they settle down again," she responded as she heaved a sigh. "Cuts and scratches are nothing, but torpedoes to the hull of a ship… devastating."

A little astro-droid rolled up out of no where and began making an assortment of different sounds to communicate… something. Callista seemed to be able to understand all the beeps and whoops and whirrs emanating from the little robot.

"So you're all right, then, T3?"

He made a noise that sounded like an "Uh-huh".

"Well, at least you are. And what about HK-47?"

A positive sound, once more.

"Run a diagnostic on the ship, please," she requested. "Take everything into account. I want to know the full extent of the damage, and estimated time and cost for repair."

He beeped twice and sped away to carry out his orders. Rin followed him with her eyes and asked, "Who is HK-47?"

"Oh, _him_," she muttered in a strange tone. "Well… we picked him up on Tatooine awhile back. He seemed to be uneasy on the planet, for a droid, and was desperate to be purchased. After some probing and haggling, Revan was able to buy him, but it turns out he worked for her many years ago as an assassin droid of some sort."

"Never a dull moment, is there?" Rin asked in an amused manner.

"You've no idea," she responded with a chuckle.

A large furry creature walked into the main hold of the small vessel with the intention of speaking to Callista but he was silent when his eyes found Rin. He appeared to be flabbergasted.

Rin smiled at him and rose to her hind legs. She was approximately half a foot shorter than he was, but it made no difference. His face was the same as from when she had first met him.

"Why, don't you remember me, Zaalbar?"

It took him a moment to register what she had said and eventually responded, "Is it truly you?"

She nodded and reintroduced herself. "It's Rinsaku. From Kashyyyk all those years ago, remember?"

"You're the chick that the Klingons attempted to sell to Czerka Corp., aren't you?" He looked her over and when he recognized the unique black spot atop her brown ear there was no denying it, and he smiled a wide toothy grin. "Where have you been for all these past years from the bounty? How have you managed to survive?"

"Apparently all Klingon bounties are off once you enter Federation space, unless they were the ones who put it on you in the first place," she informed with a smile. "Why are you here anyway?" she asked. "Why aren't you back on Kashyyyk?"

Zaalbar made a face at the name and quietly responded, "I have been titled as a Mad Claw and was exiled for defying Czerka, and my brother." He looked away and grumbled, "Revan saved my life from slavers on Taris, and I have sworn a Life-Debt to her."

Rin was about to speak but Callista jumped into the conversation. "Sorry to stop you two, but we have things to tend to. Once things are settled and there is nothing more we can do, I'm sure you can catch up later."

T3 returned to the main hold at that moment. He was speaking very slowly now, and between words there was a strange fluctuating sound, almost as if he were nervous.

"Have you completed your task?"

Affirmative.

"And…?"

He was silent now, and his words came even slower, almost as if trying to prevent Callista from exploding all over him. She was listening intently to the beeps and hums, but her face was growing whiter and whiter with anger each passing second. _(Keep in mind, this creature of mine is not what you expect. Her race has silver blood, so in a means, she is 'getting red in the face' but she's going silver in the face. Get it?)_

"And… the total cost?"

He began to speak, but the first few words were enough. Rin cut him off before he could detonate her sister and suggested he move along and attempt some of the repairs himself.

"I may as well chop off my head and turn it in for the bounty, and even _then_ it wouldn't be enough!" she exclaimed in pure frustration.

Rin puzzled a moment over the situation and then requested a moment to suggest something to her Captain. A few moments later she returned and stated, "I have an idea for this problem. I can understand very well how attached people can become to their vessels over time." She smiled as she thought of the Enterprise. "What the Captain is willing to do is tow the Ebon Hawk back into Federation space and get it repaired. It's not too terribly far, but the Federation will make the Klingon Empire pay for the damage done to your ship and it should be good as new."

Callista thought it over for a moment and explained it all to Revan when she entered the room.

"Well," she began, "if we could get it fixed, I think we could stand the wait. Couldn't we, Callista?"

"We could lodge you aboard the Enterprise," Rin continued. "There's room enough for all of you."

Callista was reluctant to accept, but Revan said she would have no problem with such a generous request.

"Very well then," Callista said when she finally gave in. "But at least give me some time to set some things right here before you beam me up."

Rin was hesitant. The Bird of Prey, although completely empty left her uneasy. So they had scanned the ship and there was nothing alive on it. Its mere presence was bothersome, along with the fact that there were less than thirty aboard the cruiser.

"Alright, Callista," she eventually agreed. "But make it quick." She opened her communicator and requested, "Scotty, beam us up."


	4. Chapter 4

"Callista, hurry up!" Rin urged. "That Bird of Prey is making me uneasy."

"It's empty," she responded though a borrowed communicator. "Like you said, all the Klingons that were onboard are currently sitting in your brig."

"Even so," she continued, "maybe we missed one. Maybe it has an auto-targeting system in its computers. Who knows?"

"The Klingons. Honestly, you are such a worry-wollok," Callista mumbled and she continued taking care of little things around the ship.

"Callista, I'm serious," Rin repeated and she looked at the Ebon Hawk through the window. "I was stuck with the Klingons for too long a time, and I know how they operate." Rin narrowed her eyes when Callista didn't respond so she rounded on the ship's engineer. "Scotty, prove me right, please, and do a scan on the Bird of Prey."

Scotty worked silently at the computer for a moment, and a puzzled expression appeared on his face. "I canna' get a lock on the Klingon ship," he admitted finally and he looked back at Rin. "You should get 'er offa' the Hawk now, just to be safe."

"Thank you, Scotty," She hovered over the communicator and demanded, "Did you hear that, Callista?"

"Come on, Rin, why don't you trust me?"

"Because I don't trust them!" Accidentally, they had flipped over into the language they had been born speaking, so every word spoken went over all the heads in the room. Callista was silent now. She knew there was no fighting her sister. "Forget it," Rin mumbled to herself. "Scotty, beam her up _now_. I don't care what she's doing down there."

"It'll take me a moment to lock onto her signature before I can-"

Outside, there was a blast and then an explosion from contact. "Scotty!" Rin shouted as the Klingon ship recharged.

"I'm workin' as fast as I can, Missy!" he shouted back in a frustrating tone and a few people in the room were knocked off their feet as the Enterprise fired some of her own proton torpedoes at the Bird of Prey. It went spinning off into deep space and exploded.

Moments later, and after much confusion, Callista was beamed aboard, but in a very different condition compared to how she was before. She was lying on her side on the transporter pad and she had silver cuts all over, and that was only on the outside.

Revan and Rin panicked at the sight and rushed over. She was unconscious from the blast. Rin picked her up gingerly and in what seemed to be no time flat she was in sick-bay watching McCoy look her sister over.

He was silent for a moment and looked up. "Everyone out."

Rin looked flabbergasted. "_What_?"

McCoy sent her a look and repeated a little more sternly, "Everyone _out_."

Rin stared hotly at McCoy, but before she could say anything, Revan pulled her from the room and closed the door behind them.

"I should be in there with her!" Rin told herself and Revan shook her head as she rolled her eyes.

"I've heard good things about your Leonard McCoy," she commented. "If he's kicking us out, I'm sure it's for a good reason." Rin narrowed her eyes but before she could say a word, Revan suggested, "If you don't have anything to do, could you please show us where we'll be staying during our stay aboard the Enterprise?"

Rin took a breath in attempts to help soothe her frustration and she muttered, "Come with me."

--

"Carth," she started, "you, Jolee, Zaalbar, and HK-47 can take this room."

He poked his head briefly inside the room and nodded. "It'll fit us," he replied plainly and they entered the room.

The remainder of the group walked down the hallway a bit and eventually stopped again. "Revan," she addressed, "you, Mission, Juhani, and T3 can have this one."

"But where will Callista sleep?" Revan asked curiously.

Rin thought a moment and offered, "Callista can have my room."

"But where will you sleep?"

"There are more empty quarters on this ship, Revan," she reassured her. "Don't worry about me."

Revan looked unconvinced but she held her tongue. She smiled at last and entered the room.

Rin walked away fuming. She figured if she was of no use in one of her strongest professions in sick-bay, she would assist Mr. Scott as an engineer to repair the engines.

On her way there, she practically ran into Kirk's first officer, and the instant she laid eyes on him, her rage vanished. Before he could say anything, she asked, "Who, or what, inside the Bird of Prey fired on the Ebon Hawk? Were you able to gather readings before it exploded?"

"Indeed," he responded plainly. "Moments before the Ebon Hawk was fired upon, a message was reported being sent from inside the brig, undoubtedly to the Klingon ship."

She nodded as she computed the information. "But where did the message go? To whom, I mean. Man or machine?"

He thought a moment and responded, "When the Enterprise fired upon the Klingon vessel, she hit her in a vital location, thus crippling their life-support systems. It appears that for one reason or another, the Klingons continued on and did not notice that their system had failed them. It would be impossible for any Klingon to remain alive that long under those conditions. However, a computer would not require said systems, but a computer that could man a starship on its own in such a manner is quite unheard of, and beyond the Klingons technologically."

Rin shook her head as an old memory came to mind. "But, the M5… the M5 was completely capable of manning the Enterprise on its own."

"Agreed, but recall it was not entirely… logical," the pointy-eared Vulcan reminded her. "As a computer, even if the Klingons had managed to steal the technology and implement it into their ship, it would not have acted the way it did."

"Fine then," she accepted but another thought troubled her. "What if it wasn't an advanced computer? Perhaps it was an android or either an astro-droid or protocol-droid that was manning the ship? A droid wound not need life-support, and it would be able to receive any messages sent wirelessly." The possibility was definitely there for both these thoughts. They knew if a droid was responsible for damaging the Ebon Hawk, it would only require a sweep of the Klingon debris and a report to Star Fleet, but if a computer had been the cause of all the damage… it was unlikely they had destroyed the prototype, and then all of the Federation was in danger.

"The Captain did have all living organisms beamed off the ship, did he not? If so, there were very few crewmembers."

"Granted, there were only twenty four Klingons onboard," Spock reported. "But if a non-organic being or beings were running the ship, there would be no need for a massive crew."

"Hm…" She debated between either interrogating the Klingons in her own subtle ways or convincing the Captain of the need to do a thorough scan of the space junk floating just outside.

After some silence, Spock spoke. "I will speak to the Captain and will conduct a search of the Klingon ship in attempts to find anything of importance to the pending investigation."

"Very well, she agreed. "I will head to the brig and interrogate the Klingons about the Bird of Prey. If you need me, I'll be there."

--

"Ensign, have they spoken at all?"

"No, Lieutenant," the young red-shirted man answered quickly. "Not a word."

Rin smiled suddenly as a thought crossed her mind and she whispered to him, "Excellent, because here's what we're going to do…"


	5. Chapter 5

"Release me, humans!" a Klingon was shouting at the top of his lungs. Rin knew that as a Klingon she could easily overwhelm the two men, but she decided to make it look like a fight and wound up in the brig just as planned. She shouted a mass of different insults at the two ensigns for good effect.

She sat cross-legged in the corner of the brig. It was strange having to behave as a male Klingon, but it was her duty, and she owed it to her Captain and his Enterprise.

One of the Klingons from the adjoining cell looked at Rin and asked, "What were you doing aboard this Starship, all on your own?"

In an aggressive, deep voice she responded, "I attempted to take the lives of the Captain and his first and second officers. But I… I was found and brought here." She slammed her fist against the wall.

"What are you called, young one?" the Commander asked, obviously having had his attention caught at Rin's story.

"They call me… Telok," she responded. It sounded like a good, strong Klingon name, even though it reminded her of worse times.

"Your attempt and devotion to your ship and its crew has been noted, Telok."

"Hey, no talking in there!" one of the security guards shouted into the brig.

'Telok' grew silent once more and pretended to fall asleep. She wasn't nervous since she had her own cell, but it was still awkward.

A short while later it came time to feed the prisoners. There was extreme tension between the true Klingons and humans. When the cell door was opened, Rin knocked the guard to the ground. She gently nodded to the ensign she had plotted with before but he hesitated. She shot him a look. If he didn't pull off his part of the plan, they potentially would never get an answer from them.

She took a threatening step forward and he finally nodded back. A guard grabbed her from behind and she flipped him over her shoulder. While she was 'distracted' by the guard, the ensign rushed forward and hit her with the butt of his phaser on her skull, in the exact same place she had told him to before.

She fell to the ground in a heap, barely conscious. The door opened and she craned her Klingon neck upward. _'McCoy? He could ruin everything!'_

He picked up what had happened and he quickly walked over to Telok. A look of puzzlement appeared on his face and Telok smiled.

"Bones, it's me. I was in a hurry so I skipped the internal change," she whispered quietly. He looked as if about to speak but she continued, "I'll explain everything later, I promise. But for now, explain that I have been hit so hard that I may suffer from memory loss."

"Uh… Ensign," McCoy began, "I believe you may have caused minor brain damage in this Klingon. We'll be lucky if he remembers anything at all!" He extracted one of his air-powered needles and shot her up with it. "Vitamins," he whispered, and before he rose he added, "Callista is recovering in sick-bay. I'll tell you more soon." And with that, he rose and walked out.

The two guards lifted Telok and moved her back into the cell. For full effect, she lain still for a long while. When she did rise at long last, one of the younger Klingons noticed immediately.

"Telok, are you well?" he asked quietly.

Rin adjusted herself and pretended to be only half there. "I… am uncertain," she mumbled with Telok's voice. Rin glanced around and looked as though confused. "Where are we?"

The young Klingon sent him a shocked look. "Do you not recall?" he asked in surprise. "We are imprisoned aboard the Federation Starship Enteprise. You were found onboard the ship after attempting assassination against the Captain's first and second officers. We beamed over and were caught in an ambush."

Rin was silent a moment and pretended to look like she was thinking deeply. "I… I believe I remember beaming over, but nothing else." She looked down at the ground.

"Can you not also remember your position on our ship?" he asked. Telok shook his head. "Telok, you had one of the most important positions on the ship. You were privileged, and monitored the Computer."

Rin's heart raced. This is what she had been waiting for! "The… Computer?" she asked.

"Yes, the Computer. It was, in a means, our Captain. Our Commander, who is in here with us, was as the face of the Computer." He paused a brief moment. "The Computer ran the entire ship, from Communications, to Navigating, to Life-Support, and down even to food preparation."

Telok nodded as if he understood. "What more is there?" he asked.

The Klingon thought a moment. "Between all the ships and their Computers is a Collective. As the Computers learn from experience, it sends information to the Collective, so in this way all Computers learn. In a sense, these Computers are very much like the Borg."

"Borg?" Telok asked curiously.

"They're not important," he said with a slight smirk.

"These… Computers," Telok began again. "How many are there?"

"There are enough to the point where they are teaching younglings about them in schooling for starship preparation."

The door to her brig opened and two guards dragged her out. Soon later, and after many strange looks from the crew, she was dragged into sick-bay. Once the door was sealed behind them, they set her down, and Klingon became Aurelian.

McCoy entered the room from the adjoining one and smirked. "You _told_ him to hit you?" he asked in a surprised tone. "That could've been serious."

"It was worth it, from what I found out," she replied. Her happy air suddenly darkened a bit and she glanced over his shoulder into the room he had recently exited.

His smile faded and he led her into the next rom. Callista was unconscious still in one of the beds. Her breathing was labored and her heart beat was a bit irregular and rushed. Rin frowned at the sight of her little sister. The Klingons had done this once before to her, had ruined her childhood and had shaken her foundation, but it had been one time too many.

"Will she make it?" she asked in a quiet voice.

He signed and shrugged. "I can't tell," he admitted. "She might, but I think you could tell better than I. All I could do was stabilize her."

She sat down in a chair and stared at the wall in thought. "Her heartbeat is irregular and her temperature is a bit high. If it's a cold of a sort, she can't sweat it out, since we don't have sweat glands." She rubbed her eyes and exhaled. "Vivek was the one who contained all the medical knowledge for my clan," she whispered to herself. "Why can't I remember anything?" Her head throbbed a little from where she had been hit but she blocked the distraction. After a moment of pondering, a thought came to mind and she headed for the door.

"Wait Rin," McCoy called from behind her and he closed the door again. "I need to you stick around." She turned and stared at him. "That blow to the head may have done more damage than intended."

Rin swallowed her frustration and was quiet while McCoy scanned her head. "Bed rest," he prescribed an instant later. "I'd say you should rest in your quarters until your head looks better." She said nothing as she turned to leave. "I'll come check up on you in a bit, so don't let me catch you out of bed."

--

In her quarters, Rin was sitting in front of the ship-wide informational computer, regardless of what she had been told to do. "Computer," she called and waited.

"Ready," the robotic-female voice responded.

"Search all information regarding old Aurelian medical skills and methods."

"Working," it replied and was silent for a moment. "In each clan, the main Aurelian (typically the alpha-male, but not in all cases) held all medical knowledge and was consulted in things pertaining to illness or injury. It has not yet been explained, but in some branches, especially that of Gryphex, knowledge was passed down through generations, but it was usually unused until the knowledge is required in a life-threatening situation, or in that of another's."

"Great," she muttered sarcastically. "So I know it already!"

"In the case of a cut, gash, or wound, the main Aurelian, also known as the Kaloner, or its descendant, can apply a feather to the wound, and by ways unknown, the feather holds in place and helps to heal the injury."

"That one… I remember from…" A saddening memory came to her mind and her stomach twisted into a knot.

"Other skills include herbal knowledge; how the combinations thereof could either heal or poison the body."

"Stop." Rin puzzled a moment. "None of this is helping the situation. Computer."

"Ready."

"Search all known illnesses communicable and or inherited by Aurelians," she commanded.

"Working," it replied once again. "List compiled."

"Sort by most common."

"Working."

The door to her quarters opened and Spock walked in. "You are needed on the Bridge."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Spock," she said apologetically. "Dr. McCoy has confined me to bed rest."

"This is bed rest?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Currently, I'm trying to figure out what is ailing my sister. Unfortunately, because of the secrecy of my race, there is only so much information."

"I am aware that your branch of the Aurelians is able to pass knowledge down to their immediate descendants," he stated.

"We can, but only some do," she informed. "I know my father, the Kaloner of my clan, passed his knowledge down to me, or my sister, but accessing it could prove to be difficult." She looked from the computer to her friend. "If that is the case, I may require your assistance."

Spock nodded and grasped his wrist behind his back. "When the time comes, I will make myself available," he offered.

Rin smiled a bit. "Thank you. I shall appreciate your help immensely," she replied thankfully. He nodded once and turned to leave. "Wait, where are you going?" she asked suddenly.

"To bribe the good doctor for your release," he responded in a slightly different tone of voice and he left.

"I don't care what he says," she told herself. "He's pretty darn funny for a Vulcan."

The computer chirped once to grab her attention and she turned back to it. "List compiled," it repeated again.

"Show list on the viewing screen, no audio."

It did as asked and Rin watched as a thorough list came before her eyes on the screen. Atop the list were illnesses he had either caught before or had learned about from her father all those years ago. "Computer, find illness or illnesses that match these symptoms: increased heart rate, labored respiration, temperature swings, and a coma-like state after extreme physical trauma. Show matches on-screen."

The screen was blank a moment and then it came up with one match. The name was unpronounceable, even for her. "Let's see… caused by an overload of stress and the overworking of midiclorians in the cell… potentially fatal?!" She jumped clear out of her chair. "Computer, treatment or cure on audio."

After a few seconds, "Cure unknown. Knowledge of treatment and cure is held only by Kaloner, or the descendant thereof."

Rin punched her wall and slid to the ground. "Computer off," she muttered. Her head was pounding and her blood was boiling through her veins. "I should remember," she told herself heatedly. "Or was it given to Callista? Since she too is a descendant… perhaps she was chosen to possess the knowledge instead?" On this hunch, she pushed herself to her feet and quickly departed for sick-bay.


	6. Chapter 6

As she expected, Rin found Spick speaking with McCoy. They both grew silent when they saw her.

"Darn it, Rin," McCoy growled at her. "I said _bed rest_."

"Acknowledged, but I can sleep later," she mumbled. She briskly walked into Callista's room and placed her talons on her sister's temples.

In a language very foreign to the non-Aurelian beings in the room, she said words similar to those the Vulcans used during their Mind-Melds, but in the same sense, very different. Her spoken words had an almost musical sound to them, and to living ears, it was a hypnotic language. It was a treat to the human ear, yet a secret to the tongue. With all the knowledge contained by the most intelligent alien race, the sound produced from her throat was one that was unutterable by any other species. Not even a computer could speak such foreign words. It was an unspeakable symphony of sound, an acoustic masterpiece, honey to the ears.

'_Callista… hear me, sister.'_ Rin mentally called to her sister though the connection. _'You are deathly ill. As a descendant of Vivek, you may hold the knowledge he held once,'_ she explained. _'For some reason or another, I am unable to access the information in my own mind, so I have no choice but to ask you. Callista, please answer me…'_

She didn't respond. After a few frustrating moments, Rin pulled away and broke the link. Spock and McCoy were watching her, and by this time Kirk had arrived in sick-bay as well. But she hadn't even acknowledged their presence in the back of the room.

"She's not even mentally there," she told herself. "A meditative-state, perhaps?" Rin rose to her hind legs and checked cardio and respiratory signs. Her breathing had become even more labored and her heart rate had increased even more.

She lifted her gaze to the back of the room and her eyes locked onto her old childhood companion's. A look was all it took. She sat down as he walked over and he seated himself in front of her.

"Rin, you can't!" McCoy shouted as he took a few steps forward. "You're in a weak mental state. You might not be able to hold up with the strain of a Mind-Meld."

"Bones," Kirk began as he grabbed McCoy's arm suddenly, "what's going on here? What's she got her head set on? 'Weak mental state'?"

Rin had already blocked them out. Currently, all that existed was she, Spock, and the goal of knowledge to be gained.

She tensed when the link formed. If she didn't know how to cure her sister, no one would, and the Hiroshi's would be a dead line. It became quickly apparent she was going to have a hard time honing in on the information. Inherited knowledge and that she had gained over her lifetime was immense.

They scanned her memories first. She blocked out a few to avoid any potential emotional outbursts and went back to the earliest memory: her hatching.

There was extreme darkness and pressure entirely around her, and then there was a sudden burst of light. Her young eyes quickly adjusted to the world, and to her parents. Rin's stomach knotted as her father lifted her in his talons to his face. There was silence as he looked into his daughter's green eyes, and he approved with a smile. He gently touched the tip of his beak to hers and at that moment, he sealed all the knowledge he had within her, so that she would only find what she needed when she needed it, and not before.

"Bones, what did you mean when you said she was in a 'weak mental state'?" Kirk asked again. "Did something happen I should know about?"

He was quiet for an instant before speaking. "Rin was secretly interrogating the Klingons," he began. "Only Spock and the ensign working the brig knew about it. All according to her plan, in the shape of a Klingon, she broke out of her cell during the feeding and attached one of the guards that ran at her. Then, the ensign smacked her atop the head with the butt of his phaser."

"He did what?!"

"Calm down, Jim," he assured him. "She said he deserved a raise for his accuracy," McCoy added.

Suddenly and without warning, Spock pushed himself to his feet. He looked a little winded and was catching his breath.

"Spock, what happened?" Kirk asked as he helped his friend steady himself on his feet.

After a moment of silence he replied in a puzzled tone, "I was forced from the meld." He creased his eyebrows and looked up. "I was unaware such a thing was possible."

McCoy walked over and knelt by Rin with his scanner. "There is an enormous amount of activity going on in there," he reported in a surprised sort of voice.

"I believe she found the information she was searching for," Spock stated in monotone. "Perhaps the memory we found reminded her of what needed to be done."

"What needed to be done?" Kirk asked curiously.

"I am uncertain," he responded honestly. "As close friends as we are, her race's ways are still secret from me, but her reasons are understood."

Rin was still sitting on the floor. She almost looked as if she were meditating. A look of deep thought was etched across her face.

Fortunately, the time that held her was brief. Revan had entered sick-bay by that time to check up on her friend and crewmate.

"Bristag," Rin finally whispered and her eyes opened.

As the three exchanged glances, Revan translated. "Ship." They turned and stared at her. "It's a form of Mandalorian," she explained. "I don't know how she learned it though, with her stressing upbringing and shaken childhood."

Spock did not comment but rather turned his attention to Rin. She had risen from her spot on the floor and was heading toward the door.

"Really now," McCoy said as he stepped in front of the door. "After all the stress you've been physically and mentally put through, you should be off your feet for awhile. Heck, we'll even take care of her if you tell us what to do," he offered.

Rin stared at him a moment silently. She took to hovering to 'get off her feet' and left the room. McCoy shook his head but said nothing as they all followed her.

Sooner than later, they found themselves in the engineering section. Although it was a very dazed conversation, Rin was speaking with Scotty, and he looked to be getting a bit irritated.

"What?!" he exclaimed in an unusually loud voice. "I canna' just give you the dilithium crystals!"

"Scotty please," she asked in a quiet voice. "I'll only need a shard of the crystal."

"I'm sorry, Lassie, but I canna' do it."

She narrowed her eyes at the situation. "Scotty, you know I would never do anything to endanger the Enterprise. She's too precious to us all." She frowned when she realized that her words were doing nothing. "You know my numbers are correct," she urged "Check with the Computer, Mr. Scott. You know I'd never hurt her. Never."

He continued to stare silently at her as the thought it over. He sighed as he rubbed his creased forehead. "How much do you need?" he asked slowly and hesitantly.

"Only a shard of it, barely nothing," she answered quickly. "Please, we need to hurry."

"Alrigh', alrigh'." He glanced around the engine room and walked over to the crystal. "Only a shard now," he cautioned as she neared the glowing crystal.

"I completely understand," Rin assured him. She carefully eyed the crystal before touching it. "Alrighty then, this shouldn't hurt you a bit." Cautiously, she adjusted her claws along the side of the crystal and made a small scratch. She pulled back to see if the ship reacted to the change. When nothing happened, she leaned in and genltly chipped a piece of the crystal into the palm of her talon and slowly pulled away.

Enterprise's engines skipped for a second or two but eventually fell back into normal rhythm. Scotty looked relieved when the monitors showed no damage. When he turned around again Rin was already gone.

When Rin entered her quarters, she locked the door behind her. Her race's ways were secret, and that was how they would so remain.

She ground up the fragment of crystal into a fine powder. She then gently plucked some of the hairs from the old black feather on her desk and burned them. The few ashes were mixed with what was left of the crystal. She bit one of her fingers until it bled and let it drip slowly until the mixture filled the small flask. Once she stopped the bleeding, she held the flask in her talons and breathed on it. Instantly, it turned a silvery-blue. Rin's eyes widened and a smile appeared n her face. "A success!" she whispered as she headed for sick-bay.

She was surprised to rind Revan, Kirk, and Spock already thee, waiting for her. She hesitated only an instant before walking up to McCoy.

"This," she said as she held the blue vial aloft, "is what will cure my sister." He opened his mouth to comment but she stopped him. "There is no time to test it. I know this will work."

A moment of silence passed between the two and tension held the stare. His blue eyes were sparkling with uncertainty but her green ones were full of determination.

Finally, McCoy heaved a sigh, and he stepped away so she could enter the room. She shook the flask a little and opened it.

Callista hadn't changed a bit. The wounds looked to be worsening as time marched on. Once she gave Callista the potion though, the body would focus back on what had priority and things would go back to normal.

Rin dripped some of the healing concoction on her finger. She muttered something under her breath as she ran the coated finger down the center of her sister's beak. The smell would stimulate some of the nerves.

Rin dripped half the flask down Callista's dry throat and she massaged the throat to coax the liquid into the stomach.

Then with what was left, she covered her talons with the contents of the vial. When her hands were completely blue, she stepped toward Callista's head and placed her hands on her sister's face, sort of the way the Vulcans do during the Vulcan Mind-Meld.

A moment later, Callista's eyes opened and she started coughing. Rin pulled back, relieved, and rolled Callista onto her side. "Yes, that's it," Rin coached. "Take deep breaths now." She looked at the company that was staring at her and she smiled at them. McCoy returned it and they turned back amongst themselves.

Callista finally mentally returned and rolled onto her chest. "What happened?" she asked in a confused tone. "How did I wind up here? Last I recall I was on the Eon Hawk and you were yelling at me…" She looked down as things fell into place. "The Klingon ship…" she realized.

"Yes, the Bird of Prey," Rin confirmed softly. "It fired on the Ebon Hawk while you were there. We fired back and rescued you after it had exploded."

She was staring at the ceiling in a slightly dazed fashion. "I… I'm sorry…" she whispered breathlessly. "I should've listened to you," she admitted moments later.

Rin couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her voice was caught in her throat. She couldn't utter a sound. She felt weakened suddenly as she steadied herself against the all. Rin glanced down at her hand s and assumed, _'The blood I gave must've weakened me severely.'_ She slipped a little further and neared the ground. _'That and the Mind-Meld…'_ Rin carefully lowered herself to the floor and everything went black.


	7. Chapter 7

She awoke in one of the beds in sick-bay. The other two beds were empty, so she was quite alone. Her blood had been washed from her talons and the cut on her finger tip was almost completely healed. Her head was pounding and she was dizzy.

She craned her neck up to see the monitor above her head. Everything looked normal to her, though she didn't feel like it.

McCoy looked into the room and smiled when he realized she was awake. "Ah, you're finally up," he noted as he walked over. "How do you feel?" he asked as he examined the monitor.

"Horrible," she groaned.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he sympathized. "Roll onto your back for me."

She sent him a look. "You're joking, right? Shall I pull my wings off for you too?"

"Fine, fine. your side, then."

Rin did as she was told and took deep breaths when asked. If she had the strength for it, she would've already launched herself from sick-bay and be running around the Enterprise like always, but she was too weak to do so.

"How long have I been out?" she asked quietly as he ran the scanner down the length of her body.

He measured the readings and responded, "Almost three days."

Rin eased herself up and peered into the next room. A puzzled expression appeared on her face. "Where's Callista?"

McCoy smiled and admitted, "I don't know how you did it, but she made a full recovery. We beamed her down to Tatooine with Revan to search for parts. Mr. Scott said he'd help them put the thing back together again."

She lay back down again with a satisfied look on her face. "She's alright," she told herself. "It worked" She switched over into her native tongue and started mumbling to herself.

"I think that smack to your head did a lot more than I thought," he commented when she didn't respond to him. He picked up an air-needle from the table beside him. "Sleep now, and rest easy," he told her as he injected her with the solution and she went under seconds later.

--

'_Goodness, what are you doing in here?'_

'_I've come to update new-found information,'_ he responded smoothly.

'_McCoy doesn't know, does he?'_ He didn't respond. _'Won't he become frustrated because of you disturbing one of his patients?'_ Rin asked thoughtfully.

'_Indeed he would so become. I find human predictability quite advantageous,'_ he commented.

'_And so you would,' _she replied as she smirked inwardly. _'Oh, I've been meaning to relay some information to you relating to our captive Klingons. They are still onboard, are they not?'_

'_They are,'_ he confirmed, _'and growing more quarrelsome and irritable day by day,'_ he added.

'_I managed to find out that there _was _a super computer running the ship, but that's not the worst of it.'_

'_How many computers are in use by the Klingons?'_ he asked.

'_Unknown,'_ she responded. _'But there are enough to the point where they are teaching young Klingons how to operate the computers.'_ There was silence for a moment and she whispered, _'Let's face it, Star Fleet and all the Federation are in deep trouble with this devastating machine. If we can't put an end to them, it's Kobayashi Maru.'_

'_I appreciate the information. I shall inform the Captain at once.'_

'_Spock, wait a moment,' _she called as he began to pull out. _'The computers are connected and form a sort of Collective, sort of like the Borg do.'_ She sensed puzzlement. _'I don't know what it means either. Basically, what happens to one, affects them all. What one learns, they all learn.'_

'_A formidable opponent, to be sure,'_ he commented, _'but nothing is undefeatable.'_

'_Agreed. That's all the information I have for you.'_

He pulled out and she was alone again.

--

"Rin said that?" Kirk asked in surprise.

"I believe I already confirmed that, Captain," Spock repeated dully, "twice."

"If it learns as it travels through the galaxy," he hypothesized, "I find it unlikely that they will attempt to cross the Enterprise."

"Perhaps, or they will find the Enterprise's most vulnerable point and strike her there," the Vulcan offered emotionlessly.

Kirk nodded as he processed the information. "And after that," he concluded, "Star Fleet, and the Federation of Planets." There was a moment of solemn silence and Kirk suggested, "What would happen if we destroyed the Collective?"

Spock thought a moment and responded, "The computers would lose the connection between them all, and they would learn individually, or they would form another Collective until there were no more to make Collectives from. But even before then, they would need to meet to reestablish a connection."

Kirk was silent as he contemplated the situation. One Starship could not possibly wipe out all these computers. Fighting off an entire fleet of Klingon Birds of Prey would be suicide! There would have to be another way. If not to destroy the ships, then perhaps they could simply '_blue-screen_' the super computers.

"Another thought, Captain," Spock proposed. "If we could create a sort of communicable virus that passes from computer to computer whenever contact or transmission was made, it could destroy the Collective and its subjects from the inside out."

"Thank you, Mr. Spock," Kirk ended thankfully and he called one of the crew-women into the room. "Yeoman, give this to Lieutenant Uhura," he ordered as he handed her a floppy-like cartridge. "Have her send this to Star Fleet and ask them to return suggestions as soon as possible."

"Yes, Captain," she responded obediently and she left to carry out his task.


	8. Chapter 8

Rin had finally regained consciousness. McCoy wasn't in the room so she eased herself up and out of the bed. While she had been physically indisposed, she had been attacking the situation from all angles. She had made an important realization, and if she was correct, they were all in danger.

She strode over to the communicator on the wall and pressed the white button along-side it. "Captain Kirk, it's Rin. I need to speak with you urgently."

On the Bridge, Kirk heard the voice. "An, Rin, you've finally come back to us," he said with a smile. "What is so urgent?"

"I need to speak to you in person."

"Why don't you come up to the Bridge?"

McCoy suddenly had an angry look on his face, but before he could say a word, Rin answered, "Nothing would please me more, sir, but I'm afraid to leave because your chief medical surgeon would beat me into next week if I left the sick-bay."

McCoy's expression changed and he smiled wide. "Finally, they're learning!" he exclaimed happily.

"But frankly, Captain, if I wound up some time next week, it would be too late," she continued. "A week, and Star Fleet could destroy itself, and the Federation of Planet's with it. Please, it's urgent."

--

"Now, what is so pressing?"

"If you don't take me seriously, you could be sending the Enterprise to her grave," Rin warned. Physical and mental strain and stress were obviously taking their toll on her.

He gave her his undivided attention. "What do you mean?" he asked. "We destroyed the Bird of Prey! All we can do now is alert Star Fleet of the Collective and-"

"Yes, Captain," she acknowledged. "But this computer… it has a mind of its own. It has a will to live and survive. A most human characteristic," she commented. "Point being, if it is threatened and has no way to escape, it will do anything to save itself. Anything, Captain Kirk."

"What are you saying?"

The lights suddenly dimmed. Every system in the ship skipped for some reason or another.

"Cap'n!" a voice was calling. "Cap'n!"

"Scotty, what's' wrong?" he asked in a tense voice.

"I canna' tell, Cap'n," he responded. "We've just lost all power. I've got her on impulse power, but I canna' tell 'ow long she'll last on that."

"See what you can do," he ordered. "Kirk out."

Emergency lighting had replaced the lights all over the ship. Rin was shaking her head under the single light above their heads. "It appears my theory was correct," she muttered in a concerned tone. She looked into the eyes of her Captain and whispered, "Captain, we have been high jacked by a computer."


	9. Chapter 9

Before giving him a chance to put in his ten cents, she jumped up from where she had been sitting and ran from sick-bay. She slid to a stop in front of one of the computer access terminals and started pressing many of the buttons. "Voice override," she commanded.

"Accepted," it responded.

"Block off all informational banks. Include personal files, library records, ship blueprints… everything. Voice-lock all information by my voice. Users include Rinsaku Hiroshi, Mr. Spock, and Captain James Kirk."

"Accepted," it responded.

"Also, lock engineer deck controls by my voice. Users include Montgomery Scott and Captain James Kirk."

"Accepted."

"Lock life-support systems by my voice. Users include Rinsaku Hiroshi and Captain James Kirk." There was no response. "Acknowledge," she ordered. The computer did not respond. "Acknowledge!" she commanded. Suddenly all lights went out on the console. Only one remained. It flickered a little. It reminded her of an eerie eye.

Kirk stood silently beside her. "Computer," he began, "acknowledge previous request."

"Request… _denied_," a deep male voice responded from the console.

Rin looked with wide eyes to her Captain and explained, "The invading computer has taken over. I… I'm sorry… I saved what I could."

"You have locked pieces and parts of your inferior computer," the parasite noted in a mocking tone. "It will not take long to hack," it promised.

"Computer!" Rin ordered in a strong voice.

"R-r-ea-d-y-y," the female voice stuttered as it fought to speak.

She thought a moment. She needed to by Enterprise's computer as much time as possible to prevent the invading bug from taking control too quickly. "Calculate π to the last digit, and don't be quick about it. Focus all systems."

"W-work-ing-ing," it responded.

"That might by us enough time," she concluded. "Life support… I don't think I reached it in time."

"Don't worry about it, Rin," he said as he patted her on the back, which was awkward because of her wings. "You did what you could."

"Even so, I should've tackled life support first thing," she muttered regrettably.

He smiled at her hand said, "You know, if you think about it, what you did was the smartest thing." She stared at him in a puzzled fashion. "You locked our informational library to protect Star Fleet secrets," he informed. "If your theories are correct, it could prevent it from transmitting anything back to its… friends."

She shook her head and smiled. "You know," she began, "Bones was right. That hit must've done a lot."

--

On the Bridge, Spock was sitting in the Captain's chair, issuing orders in trying to confront the rogue computer. Kirk had managed to get Rin to the Bridge and had taken his place at the Conn. Rin was thankful that their good doctor was there and she told him so.

The atmosphere on the Bridge was one of tension and stress. Frustration was mounting between the crewmembers as the ship quickly became less and less responsive. Scotty was having difficulties with the engines and maintaining orbit of the planet and communications were being jammed on all signals. The crew had switched to communicators to get around the problem, but they knew it would not be long before even these ceased to function.

Rin had managed to catch Spock's attention and she sat on her haunches so her forelimbs would be free. With many different hand signals and gestures she managed to roughly communicate exactly what was happening to the Enterprise.

He raised an eyebrow and commented, "That is a most logical theory."

She nodded back and continued to sign.

He watched silently and suddenly knit his eyebrows. "But what of those on the planet's surface?" the Vulcan inquired.

Rin stopped signing and sighed, "They may have to wait," she responded sadly. "No doubt the transporter would scramble them into one big mess of atoms and we'd lose them."

"Foolish organics," the computer mocked. "You should know there is nothing you can do. you may was well begin preparing for the end now, for it is inevitable."'

"Fascinating," Spock muttered. "Captain, I believe it is attempting to evoke desperation into the crewmembers," he concluded.

At this, Kirk instantly spoke into the ship-wide intercom to reassure the crew. "This is your Captain speaking," he began. "Disregard any and all threatening messages broadcasted through the ship. The onboard computer is experiencing technical difficulties. Take no heed to it. Kirk out."

"Captain, message from Star Fleet," Uhura announced in a strong voice. "It's a bit scrambled, but they are asking if we are in need of assistance. They are concerned that we haven't made contact."

Kirk hesitated. Yes, they needed help, but if another ship was to come to their aid, the new ship could potentially catch the virus as well. If they remained quiet about the whole thing, however, the crew would eventually die off and then space would have a rogue Federation Star Cruiser flying around.

"Uhura, tell Star Fleet that everything is under control here and that everything is running in _green conditions_. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise."

"Yes, Captain."

"Rin, you should go rest in your quarters," McCoy advised in a quiet voice so as not to disturb those on the Bridge and she nodded.

"Nothing would please me more, Doctor."

--

In her room, everything was completely silent. She was on the verge of sleep when the computer began taunting her again.

"You poor, pitiful, pathetic creature," it sneered. "You and your Masters are inferior. Learn your place in the galaxies, for it is under the heel of the universe."

Rin rolled over and sat up immediately. "And learn it well, shall I," she muttered in response. "We indeed are inferior, but I feel most inferior of all. New-comer, I live only to serve, and thus as been my assumed role in life since my beginning. Please, put me to work for you so I feel I have purpose in this miserable life of mine!" she begged.

"Fascinating creature," it commented in a shocked tone of voice. "Indeed, you are wiser than all others here, even the half-breed on the Bridge. Tell me, Aurelian, what made you come to realize this?"

"My beginning… when I was taken by the Klingons from my clan…" she began quietly. "That was when I finally learned by place, and from then on, I move on from Master to Master, and every other one is stronger and more superior then the last. From the Klingons to the Vulcans, to the Federation to the Captain of this ship. And now, the process continues."

It sounded almost happy, for a computer. "I praise you, Aurelian. Your intelligent way of life and wisdom serves you well."

"Indeed it does," she agreed with a smile. "Indeed it does."

--

When Kirk walked into the Brig, he was not surprised to find his First Officer leaning over one of the Klingons with his green-blooded hands on his bumpy forehead.

He pulled back as the Captain neared him and he straightened his posture. "Captain, it appears I may have speculated in error."

"Elaborate."

"The Klingons control the computer, to an extent," he informed. "By one of their communicators, they instructed it to transport itself from their ship over into our system before it exploded. Apparently, just before they beamed over, they commanded it to take over the _Enterprise_ silently, so we could not realize the capture until it was too late."

Kirk spoke his thoughts aloud. "Then, when conditions were best, the computer would release the Klingons from the Brig, who would take over the ship! Then Star Fleet would have a rogue ship and the Federation would be destroyed from the inside out!" He clenched a fist. "They are too dangerous to be kept aboard!"

"Captain, what you are suggesting is inhumane-"

"Whether it is or is not, it makes no difference!" Kirk shouted. Spock looked disturbed at his Captain's outrage. "This ship and her crew are my responsibility. They are my duty, and I must do anything to keep them safe. Can't you understand that, Spock?"

He said nothing in response, but the Captain's responsibilities were immense, and he knew it well. "Captain," he began in a careful tone, "there is another way to solve this problem. Sir, I can understand your frustration, but killing the Klingons is completely unnecessary." He picked up one of the Klingon communicators and held it in his hand. "If this is the device I learned about from this Klingon's mind, it would be possible to re-wire it to work in our favor, and remove this electronic parasite from the ship."

Kirk thought it over and overcame his desire to kill his prisoners. "Very well, Mr. Spock," he agreed in a dark tone. "Do whatever it takes."

"Right away, Captain," he answered quickly and he left the room.

--

"This," the computer explained, "can… transport pieces of me to different ships and different systems. It is a bit of a 'flash-drive', if you will forgive the old term."

Rin closed the communicator back up and asked, "Just that little addition from the Klingon communicator can do all that?" She looked awestruck. "Fascinating."

"Here are your instructions," it began. "I am going to beam you over to the _Ebon Hawk_, and you are going to upload a bit of me into the vessel's systems."

Rin raised her eyebrows. "Why do you require my assistance with this? Can you not do this yourself?"

It was hesitant to answer. "I can," it eventually responded, but in a strange tone, "but it is faster and more efficient if it were to be uploaded manually by another hand."

"Ah, I see," She stepped on the transporter pad and asked, "Will I be able to maintain contact with you while I am over there?"

"You will not," it responded. "Not until you properly upload a piece of me into the system. Then, I shall make contact with that computer and we shall work as two separate beings, two separate ships."

--

"In your dreams," Rin retorted the instant she materialized inside the _Ebon Hawk_. "Even if I were able to unload this rogue system, the _Ebon Hawk_ is such and old smuggling vessel that the ship would reject it. Besides, this is only manned manually, so it is not advanced enough to be run by a computer." She pondered a moment over their current situation. "If I could convince the computer that every scrap was needed, perhaps I could destroy this little device, and thus end one of the many computer parasites that exist in this universe. Or…" She looked down at the communicator. "Or I could fix the communicator and drag it unwillingly over here, and then it would be trapped. All I would need to do would be to kill Communications here until we could find a way to destroy this leech."

A/N: That's it, I'm done with this. I realized that this story would be better used in another one of my Star Trek stories, so that's what is going to happen. The story shall appear on my other account, _Rinsaku Hiroshi-San_, so I'll keep you posted there. I am uncertain how long it will take me to finish up that story and make all this fit and finally put all the final details into it, but when it is finished, it will be a wonder. I hope to see some of you readers along the written road. Farewell for now, and live long and prosper! ;)


End file.
